Nikon F90 (1992/2001)

Nikon F90 (1992/2001)

#412

This photo is from the copy I own

History and technical features 

he F90 is a 35mm autofocus SLR released from Nikon in 1992. It is also known as the N90 in America. It has a similar body design to F-801s / N8008s. An improved version was released in 1994 as the F90X or N90s in America.

The shutter is an electromagnetically controlled vertical travelling focal-plane shutter with speeds of 30 sec to 1/8000 sec. B mode. Metering modes include, matrix, center-weighted averaging and spot. The exposure meter has a range of -1 to 21 EV for matrix and center-weighted and 3 to 21 for spot mode. Exposure modes include program auto, veri-program, shutter priority, aperture-priority and metered manual exposure mode. A exposure compensation feature is also available with a range of ±5 EV in 1/3 stop.

The X-sync in Program and Aperture mode is from 1/60 to 1/250 sec. or in 30 sec to 1/250 in slow sync mode. In shutter priority and manual modes the sync is equivalent to the shutter speed, with 1/250 for speeds 1/250 to 1/8000.

It is capable is using DX coded film with a range of 25 to 5000 ISO or in manual mode of 6 to 6400 ISO. The motorized film transport is able to travel at up to 3.6 fps. Film loading is automatic and advances to the first frame by pressing the shutter release. The film counter is upwards counting but also counts downwards when rewinding film. It is powered by 4x 1.5 V AA batteries loaded into the handgrip area.

Source: camera-wiki.org

The Nikon F90 (known as the N90 in the United States) is a 35mm SLR camera manufactured between 1992 and 2001 and replaced the earlier Nikon F-801 (N8008 in the U.S.). At the time of its release it was noted for its fast autofocus speed compared to previous Nikon models, which had lagged behind competitor Canon's. It was thus seen by many as a 'stop-gap' measure to prevent the mass migration of many Nikon-using professional photographers to Canon, as Nikon's next fully professional camera, the F5, was some time away from release. The Nikon F4, the professional model available at the time of the F90's release, had very slow autofocus compared to Canon's autofocus SLRs.

The Nikon F90's autofocus system was driven by a small 'peanut' motor in the camera body that drove the lens via a mechanical link, unlike Canon's autofocus system, which used motors built into each lens. It was also the first Nikon SLR to interoperate with the first generation of Nikkor lenses featuring internal focusing motor.

Despite not being intended for the professional market, the Nikon F90 and its upgrade, the F90x, were built to a high standard and were (and are still) used by many professionals.

However, many F90 and F90x bodies had problems with the rubberized back, where the rubberized coating would start peeling or turn into a sticky mess. The rubber around the grip and other parts were not affected. This did not affect the functionality of the back but was a nuisance to users. The rubberised coating can however be removed (Once the door has been unclipped and safely removed from the camera body) by rubbing gently with a microfibre towel or similar soaked in plenty of Isopropyl Alcohol. This procedure will remove the rubberised top coating without affecting the surface finish of the underlying plastic or the clear film viewing window. The white printed "Vari Program" icons will remain unaffected also. The end result is a hard semi-gloss finish the same as the camera's top plate.

Source: wikipedia.org


Specifications

Lens Mount
Solid stainless steel, baby.

Finder
Big, bright and beautiful FX format.
92% coverage.
0.78x magnification with 50mm lens at infinity.
Big porthole-sized eyepiece with 19mm eyepoint.
Optional E screen if you want grid lines.
Data is displayed as black digits inside a gray rectangle at the bottom, which lights up in green at night.

AF Sensor
One CAM246 module, sensitive to horizontal and vertical details.
The sensor area is 7mm wide by 3mm tall.
Rated to work as dark as LV -1.
Adjustable for wide or narrow sensitivity.
172 horizontal by 74 vertical continuous, uninterrupted CCD elements. That's 86 pairs horizontally by 37 pairs vertically.

Focal Plane Location
Marked by the rear edge of the flash shoe, no conventional symbol. Nikon never said if this means the rear edge of the bottom of the shoe, or of the top prongs, sorry.

Exposure Modes
P, S, A and M.
Seven Vari-Program custom tweaks of the Program mode.

Meter
8-segment silicon photo diode (SPD) 3D Matrix, center weighted and spot.
Rated range: down to LV -1 with f/1.4 lens (LV 3 in spot).
(No matrix meter with older manual-focus lenses, center-weighted and spot only.)

Flash Meter
5-segment 3D Matrix.

Shutter
1/8,000 to 30 seconds, Bulb.
Stepless in P and A.

N90s and F90x
Settable in 1/3 stops in S or M.

N90 and F90
Only sets full-stops in S or M.
Half-stop steps indicated in Auto modes.

Flash Sync
1/250.
FP mode goes higher with reduced efficiency with some flashes.

Frame Rate

N90s and F90x
4.1 FPS and 2 FPS.
If your subject isn't moving, it can run up to 4.3 FPS.

N90 and F90
3.6 FPS max.

Self Timer
Easy to set to any delay between 2 and 30 seconds. more.

Top LCD
Cyan EL backlight.

Power
4 AA batteries: alkaline, Ni-Cd (Ni-MH), or even the awful "Heavy Duty" kind. more.

Size
6.1 x 4.2 x 2.7" (154 x 106 x 69mm), rated and confirmed, WHD.

Weights (measured):
30.270 oz. (858.1g) with batteries, but no film, cap, strap or lens.
30.930 oz. (876.9g) with batteries and 24 exp. film, but no cap, strap or lens.
31.048 oz. (880.2g) with batteries and 36 exp. film, but no cap, strap or lens.
Rated 26.6 oz. (755g) without batteries, lens, cap or strap, same for N90 and N90s.

Source: kenrockwell


Model

Serial number 2057065


Reference sites

camera-wiki.org

kenrockwell


Manual

English manual


Batteries

4 AA batteries

Film


Pictures taken with this machine


Videos